Against the Storm/Bonus
Throughout its inception and writing, Against the Storm took some of its inspiration from previous unwritten and unreleased prequels to The Feral Plains and from several songs by various artists, which were once featured in a more extensive "soundtrack". This "Bonus" page documents these things as coherently and as accurately as possible, while also providing a complete gallery of all of the story's images. Origins Throughout the release of The Feral Plains, which took a little over a year to be completed, multiple ideas for prequels were developed because Cap is ambitious to a fault. These ideas go as follows: * In the Wake: A series of medium-length serials focusing on a small, divided Toa team composed of Maroona, a female Toa of Fire named Rabios, a Toa of Earth named Piru, a deceased Toa of Air philosopher named Okkam, and a treacherous Toa of Water. Each serial would focus on one of the team’s members as they each went on their own adventures before meeting up in a climactic event after which only Maroona would remain alive. This version of the story more prominently featured Omakah, but only gave the Toa Powai cameos in their Matoran forms, appearing at the end and being handed Toa stones by Maroona. One antagonist of the serials, a Lovecraftian creature named Anexis, was described as a “living paradox,” a being who simultaneously existed and ceased to exist. To this day Cap plans to modify his character and use him in a later story. Rabios’s design would eventually give rise to a modern incarnation of Drakah. * Unnamed Prequel 1: While still being formatted like TFP, this story would have still put its focus on Maroona’s original Toa team. The team consisted of herself (then known as “Marun”), a Toa of Sonics named Xeon (the precursor to Tesudin), a Toa of Plasma named Roshah, a Toa of Magnetism named Kormas, Dehka (whose origins were still being decided upon at the time), and a female Toa of Plantlife. The story was the first prequel idea to feature Tetradon and Hysterix as main antagonists; their arcs in this prequel were very similar to those seen in AtS. It also featured an earlier version of Drakah (a red-and-black male Makuta), as well as three Dark Hunters named “Grace”, “Warlock”, and “Serpent”. "Grace" was a Ga-Matoran infected by a parasitic organism who used the parasite's abilities to siphon power from others, while "Warlock" was an insane cartographer who revealed Powai Nui to the Dark Hunters. Much like Phi, “Serpent” would give rise to a creature that was given sapience through cybernetics armed with a repeating blaster (an earlier version of Phi had a tail instead of legs, as did "Serpent"). * Unnamed Prequel 2: This story more prominently featured the Toa Powai. They, along with Maroona, were portrayed as travelers who came across Powai Nui during a storm. Tesudin, a Toa native to Powai Nui, sacrificed himself to transform all of them into Toa. The story was not planned past this part. Cut Content Despite Volume VI having 22 pictures in its final version, there were going to be 3 more pictures, which were cut for various reasons: * Detras absorbing Hysterix's heat vision with Qama Radúla, which was cut due to the horrid way its special effects turned out. * Hysterix using his powers to render Salvina unconscious, which was removed because it was too close in proximity to another picture. * Ruthos flanking Hysterix and confronting him, which was cut when the scene where he fought the Makuta was removed to shorten Dissolution. Additionally, in an earlier version of Volume VI, Hysterix would have revealed to Tesudin that Ringa was a shapeshifter hired by the Brotherhood to compromise Nynrah's Toa squad. This was done to introduce Pretenders, a race of shapeshifters who would be prominently featured in a future story, into Cap's storyline. When Cap decided to exclude the Pretenders from said future story, however, he initially left Ringa as a shapeshifter before deciding to revert her to a normal Toa of Water. Music Originally, AtS featured a “soundtrack”, a list of songs by various artists which “went along with” chapters and characters in the story. This soundtrack was later scrapped, as Cap didn’t think enough of them impacted the story enough and it felt silly for him to force them into the story. Cap later came to consider dropping the soundtrack to be one of the best decisions he made to AtS. The songs were listed as follows: # Muse - "Map of the Problematique" - Main Theme, Navahko’s Theme # Blood Red Shoes - "It’s Getting Boring By The Sea" - Maroona’s Theme # Touhou - "Bad Apple!!" - Tesudin’s Theme, Hostility Chapter Theme # Rob Zombie - "Dragula (Hot Rod Herman Remix)" - Tetradon’s Theme # Muse - "Take a Bow" - Overture Chapter Theme # The White Stripes - "Icky Thump" - First Steps Chapter Theme # Muse - "Micro Cuts" - Folie á Deux Part 1 Chapter Theme # Aphex Twin - "At The Heart Of It All" - Folie á Deux Part 2 Chapter Theme # Nine Inch Nails - "Demon Seed" - Hysteria Chapter Theme As the story’s theme song, "Map of the Problematique" still maintained some influence on it. However, it did not maintain as much influence as "Bad Apple!!", "Take a Bow", and "Demon Seed" did, the last of which served as a major source of inspiration for its respective chapter. Before the soundtrack was scrapped, one was also partially planned for TFP, which shall remain undisclosed. Full Gallery Volume I Ats1-1.JPG|Sunrise over Vo-Powai Ats1-2.JPG|Toa Maroona aiming Fulgurite at Dark Hunter "Sunder" Ats1-3.JPG|Maroona holding the Staff of Vortices Ats1-4.JPG|Wreshi and Arvos adventuring Ats1-5.JPG|Arvos finding a metal black arrow Ats1-6.JPG|Wreshi discovering the Mask Maker's Tool Ats1-7.JPG|Lewok being interrogated by Dark Hunter "Alchemist" Ats1-8.JPG|Maroona saving Lewok from "Alchemist" Ats1-9.JPG|Corduk and Navahko walking down the tunnels of the KCO Ats1-10.JPG|Maroona translating Lewok's Kupurero song recording Volume II Ats2-1.jpg|Toa Tesudin spying on Phi and "Alchemist" Ats2-2.jpg|Tesudin drawing back Melisma Ats2-3.jpg|Tesudin finding an Otakini disk Ats2-4.jpg|Salvina confronting Tesudin Ats2-5.jpg|Salvina giving Tesudin a tour through Le-Powai Ats2-6.jpg|"Alchemist" invading the KCO Ats2-7.jpg|Corduk aiming his weapon at "Alchemist" Ats2-8.jpg|Ruthos stealing the Staff of Vortices Ats2-9.jpg|Salvina, Navahko, Detras, Lewok, and Corduk gathered at the Great Auger in the Citadel of the Avesians Ats2-10.jpg|The Toa Powai, after being turned into Toa Ats2-11.jpg|Ruthos and Phi arguing Ats2-12.jpg|Tetradon and Pretadix after being transported to Le-Powai Ats2-13.jpg|Salvina introducing Lewok and Navahko to Tesudin Ats2-14.jpg|Navahko spotting Ruthos Volume III Ats3-1.jpg|Maroona, Corduk, Detras, and Wreshi in the KCO Ats3-2.jpg|Pretadic meeting the Toa Powai Ats3-3.jpg|The Toa drawing their Toa tools Ats3-4.jpg|Tetradon using the Ice form of Qama Radúla Ats3-5.jpg|Tetradon suffering from convulsions Ats3-6.jpg|Lewok talking to Navahko Ats3-7.jpg|Tesudin teaching Lewok about his Great Vehere Ats3-8.jpg|Corduk, Navahko, and Lewok talking Ats3-9.jpg|The Toa Powai (sans Salvina) reunited Ats3-10.jpg|Tesudin presenting his blade to Maroona Ats3-11.jpg|Tesudin talking to Omakah Ats3-12.jpg|Navahko consulting Tesudin Ats3-13.jpg|Maroona and Detras sparring Ats3-14.jpg|Tetradon in Obodosara Ats3-15.jpg|Corduk charging at the Wraith Syndicate Ats3-16.jpg|Tetradon using the Magnetism form of Qama Radúla against Salvina Ats3-17.jpg|The Wraith Syndicate, after defeating the Toa Powai Volume IV Ats4-1.jpg|Detras, in a vision Ats4-2.jpg|Tetradon visiting Detras in his vision Ats4-3.jpg|Pretadix becoming violent with Detras in his vision Ats4-4.jpg|Detras talking to Maroona Ats4-5.jpg|Pretadix, after being transported to an unknown island by Teridax (in a flashback) Ats4-6.jpg|Tetradon and Pretadix observing their surroundings on the unknown island (in a flashback) Ats4-7.jpg|Tetradon and Pretadix on Odina (in a flashback) Ats4-8.jpg|Navahko with an acoustic jetah Ats4-9.jpg|Navahko playing the acoustic jetah with Tesudin Ats4-10.jpg|Navahko seeing Corduk in combat with Phi Ats4-11.jpg|Phi being distracted by Navahko Ats4-12.jpg|Corduk, after succeeding in his fight against Phi Volume V Ats5-1.jpg|Maroona confronting Corduk Ats5-2.jpg|Tesudin and Maroona sitting together Ats5-3.jpg|Maroona preparing to use her Mask of Psychometry on Phi's Mask of Disguise Ats5-4.jpg|Detras confronting an angered Maroona Ats5-5.jpg|Tesudin holding Maroona back Ats5-6.jpg|Tetradon attempting to use Qama Radúla's Plasma form Ats5-7.jpg|Tetradon attacking Ruthos Ats5-8.jpg|Pretadix under the effects of Tetradon's Great Xakar Ats5-9.jpg|Pretadix pulling Tetradon to himself Ats5-10.jpg|Tetradon using Qama Radúla's Plasma form against Pretadix Ats5-11.jpg|Pretadix impaling Tetradon on his own Xakar Volume VI Ats6-1.jpg|"Alchemist" investigating a series of strange noises Ats6-2.jpg|Pretadix suffering from a hallucination Ats6-3.jpg|Salvina discovering Tetradon's corpse Ats6-4.jpg|Detras channeling his elemental Fire powers through Qama Radúla Ats6-5.jpg|Ruthos coming across the Toa Powai Ats6-6.jpg|Tesudin, after being handed an arrow from Ruthos Ats6-7.jpg|Tesudin spying on Hysterix Ats6-8.jpg|Corduk confronting Hysterix Ats6-9.jpg|Hysterix staring Maroona down Ats6-10.jpg|Detras, Salvina, and Tesudin preparing to fight Hysterix Ats6-11.jpg|Corduk, Navahko, Wreshi, and Lewok discovering "Alchemist" in the KCO tunnels Ats6-12.jpg|Detras, after being thrown into a hill by Hysterix Ats6-13.jpg|Corduk aiming a firearm at "Alchemist" again Ats6-14.jpg|Wreshi and Navahko, blocked off from the rest of the tunnels by a wall of fire Ats6-15.jpg|A volley of shadow bolts flying at Maroona Ats6-16.jpg|Hysterix breaking Melisma in half Ats6-17.jpg|Corduk trying to keep the Mask Maker's Tool in his grasp Ats6-18.jpg|Hysterix's body being consumed by the portal-creating device Ats6-19.jpg|Maroona, after being transformed into a Turaga Ats6-20.jpg|High Chief Turaga Qedua meeting with Maroona and Corduk Ats6-21.jpg|Tesudin sitting in a tree with Navahko Ats6-22.jpg|"Alchemist" taking aim at a Vo-Matoran Ats-deleted-1.jpeg|A cut image, showing Ruthos appearing after firing at Hysterix Other Atsnavahkopromo.jpg|A promotional image for the story, featuring Navahko Atsironmanpromo.jpg|A promotional featuring Tesudin Atstetradonpromo.jpg|A promotional featuring Tetradon AtsmaroonapromoTITLEDnonrej.jpg|A promotional featuring Maroona